Over the next couple of posts I will be giving examples of certain design concepts we use in Beyond the Stars!. First up will be examples of Species Creation.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.
The first thing in Power creation you want to do is decide what your species will consist of. Powers can take special abilities and species disadvantages to give themselves special capabilities, reinforce a distinct characteristic, or just to burn or scrounge a few extra species points. Special abilities cost you points, while species disadvantages give you more SPs to spend. The special abilities and species disadvantages are listed in section [3.1] Species Design and are just examples. Players can take these, or think up their own, based on the costs of existing special abilities and species disadvantages. However, if you want a new or modified Advantage or Disadvantage it must be cleared with the GM first. For the list of special abilities and species disads see section [3.1] Species Design.
Example: The United States of Terra:
After Kevin envisions what the Terrans will be like he goes to the special abilities and species disads to pick the ones that will help him realize that vision.
The very first thing he does is to decide how much he wants to spend on biology and this will determine his starting Species Points. He decides that he will not max out all of his techs so spends 70 NPs giving him 700 points in Biology, making his Biology TL 7.0, and so he begins with 50 Species Points to spend on his species creation.
To design his species he must first design their homeworld. He uses Earth as his template but he goes with an Earth that has just a bit more land mass.
For size he picks Terran Type Planet for 0 SP's. Kevin then picks Normal Climate for Temperature. Next up he picks Large Continents for Water coverage. Finally he picks Normal Tectonic Activity for Tectonics. So his planet is described thusly, 656554. See Section [2.1] The Planetary Data for a detailed description of the P-Dat.
In his vision Kevin sees them as normal Humans, biologically speaking. So for Biology/Physiology he picks Dextro-Amino Acid DNA, Standard Earth type. For his Biological Classification he picks Hominidae, Human-like. Finally for Diet type he picks Omnivore.
Next Kevin begins the process of describing his species by picking their Species Abilities. Knowing Humanity's penchant for exploring and colonizing he takes 4 levels in Expansive Colonization Program. This species ability will reduce his cost to colonize new regions and worlds by 20%. In Addition, for a Power that is going to massively expand that is a major help. So he notes Expansive Colonization Program for 20 Species Points in his running talley of Species Points.
Knowing that research will be vital his next species ability is Increased Acetelcoline Output for 5 Species Points.
Knowing that Terrans are great reverse engineers he takes Expert Deductive Reasoning for 5 Species Points.
Knowing that Terrans are also good in the practical application of technology he takes Excellent Practical Application Techniques for 5 Species Points.
Knowing that Terra produced some of the best researchers known he takes Excellent Theoretical Techniques for 5 Species Points.
Knowing that he is going to base the UST on the premise of Earth uniting under the US Constitution he knows that Terran commerce will explode under the deregulation that will entail. So he takes 2 levels of Yankee Capitalists for 10 Species Points.
Knowing that Terra is the epitome of the hard work ethic he takes 2 levels of Hardcore Work Ethic for 10 Species Points.
And last, but certainly not least, Kevin knows that some humans can sell ice water to other humans living in the arctic. So to reflect this fact and its possible effect on aliens he takes 1 level of Have I Got a Deal for You!. This species ability costs him 5 Species Points.
Kevin's running talley of SPs used is 65 SPs. So he realizes that he must take a couple of Species Disadvantages to balance out the total used.
The first disadvantage he decides to take is Free Society. Knowing Earth under the US Constitution would never tolerate any from of draconian government he takes this disad. This disad gives him 5 Species Points.
Knowing Terrans would never sanction a massive amount of taxes takes Taxpayer Revolt! as his next disad. This disad gives him 5 Species Points.
Knowing that humans see how the economy either expands or contracts as a measure of how well their government is taking care of them, Kevin takes The Economy Must Expand! as his final disad. This disad gives him 5 Species Points. This balances out his Species points used in the creation process. So Kevin decides to end his species design at this point. He is satisfied with his design up to this point in the process.
Cheers, Thor